Iran, US step up attacks, threaten to escalate war

WASHINGTON: Iran launched missiles and drones on US military sites in Kuwait ​and Bahrain early on Sunday, shortly after President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out the Iranian leadership if they did not stick to the interim agreement to end their war. Israel said on Sunday it had struck Hezbollah in Lebanon on Saturday, just a day after it agreed the latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon to calm fighting that Iran says must end if the wider agreement is to stick.
The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important energy shipping route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict. 'There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will ⁠be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,' Trump said on social media. 'If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!' he added. The ⁠14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran's nuclear programme.
One round of mediated talks, led by Vice-President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified. About an hour after Trump's post, Kuwait's army said its air defences were responding to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain said sirens had sounded ​there.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a ⁠statement its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. The Guards said US strikes had violated ​the ceasefire and 'will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes', state-run Press TV said. The IRGC navy command said American bases in the region 'will experience hell in the coming days'.
A US official, confirming the attacks on US facilities, said that there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East but the situation was still ​unfolding. Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable. The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties.
US Central Command said earlier that its forces had carried out fresh strikes after a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone on Saturday. 'Iran was given a chance to honour the ceasefire agreement but elected not to,' Central Command said in a statement. US strikes were 'in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping' and targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defence, drone storage and mine-laying facilities, it said.
Explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said without providing ​details. The Guards said 'America's blind shots at Sirik will not resolve our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. But our shots at violators will remind the rest of the vessels of the clear passage ​route.' Saturday's tanker attack ‌in the ⁠strait followed one on a cargo ship on Thursday that triggered the latest escalation.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said responsibility for returning maritime traffic in the strait to pre-war levels lay solely with Tehran and urged others not to intervene 'in Iran's administration of the strait'. Washington has been promoting a southern lane, while Tehran, which ultimately aims to charge fees for use of the strait, ​wants ships to use a northern route through its waters and under its control.
Hundreds of ships stranded in the strait, which carried one-fifth ⁠of global oil and LNG ​supplies before the conflict, including tankers laden with oil, began leaving over the past two weeks, sending oil prices back close to pre-war levels. Even as attacks continued on Sunday morning, CMA CGM's Galapagos container ship exited the strait in what the shipping giant called 'an important milestone in a regional context that remains complex and requires constant vigilance'.